Re: OctoRAM Card Information Needed

[Dave Tribby <tribby@cup.hp.com>]

Bryan Villados wrote:
>
> I'm just now installing an MDIeas OctoRAM card with an OctoRAM ESP card.
> 
> One difficulty I'm running into is upgrading the RAM on the OctoRAM
> card. I've installed eight 1MB 30-pin SIMMs (80ns each). The first bank
> and second bank are different makes, but they're both running at the
> same speed. When I boot my GS up, it only recognizes 4MB. I notice that
> there's a block of jumpers on the ram card, but I don't have the
> manuals for it. Is there some kind of jumper setting I need to set to
> have it recognize all 8MB?

This question was asked earlier this month, so I'll post the same reply
with improvements suggested by David Empson. (You need to display this
with a mono-spaced font.)


OctoRAM configuration jumpers

The OctoRAM can be loaded with either 256K or 1Meg SIMMs.
There can be 1, 2, 4, or 8 SIMMs loaded on the board.

  Diagram A:  shows the physical locations of the jumpers
  in either the right or left positions for the five switches.
  Examples: 1 256K SIMM has all switches jumpered to the left;
  8 1M SIMMs have all switches jumpered to the right.

        256K SIMMs:     1       2       4       8
        Switch 1      xxx .   xxx .   xxx .   . xxx
               2      xxx .   xxx .   xxx .   xxx .
               3      xxx .   xxx .   xxx .   xxx .
               4      xxx .   . xxx   . xxx   . xxx
               5      xxx .   xxx .   . xxx   . xxx

        1M SIMMs:       1       2       4       8
        Switch 1      xxx .   xxx .   xxx .   . xxx
               2      . xxx   . xxx   . xxx   . xxx
               3      . xxx   . xxx   . xxx   . xxx
               4      xxx .   . xxx   . xxx   . xxx
               5      xxx .   xxx .   . xxx   . xxx


  Diagram B: shows all possible combinations of left and
  right settings, and notes which ones are valid

        lllll llllr lllrl lllrr llrll llrlr llrrl llrrr
        256x1       256x2 256x4
        ~~~~~       ~~~~~ ~~~~~
        256K        512K  1Meg


        lrlll lrllr lrlrl lrlrr lrrll lrrlr lrrrl lrrrr
                                1Mx1        1Mx2  1Mx4
                                ~~~~        ~~~~  ~~~~
                                1Meg        2Meg  4Meg


        rllll rlllr rllrl rllrr rlrll rlrlr rlrrl rlrrr
                          256x8
                          ~~~~~
                          2Meg


        rrlll rrllr rrlrl rrlrr rrrll rrrlr rrrrl rrrrr
                                                  1Mx8
                                                  8Meg



   Diagram C: shows the meaning of each switch. Note that
   switches 2 and 3 must be in the same position

                        LEFT            RIGHT
        Switch 1                        SIMMs 5-8
               2 \      /256K  \        /1 Meg \
               3 /      \ parts/        \ parts/
               4        SIMM 1          SIMMs 1-2
               5                        SIMMs 3-4



> Another problem I'm running into is the ESP card. It's functioning
> fine. However, when I copied the PRODOS file and the SYSTEM folder from
> the install floppy to the ROM disk (it has Apple II Desktop on it), set
> the control panel to boot from ROM disk, then boot from it, the system
> crashes when it attempts to load ProDOS-16. I booted from my hard disk
> running GS/OS 6.0.1, then attempted to drag the contents of the ROM
> disk to the trashcan. When I tried to empty the trashcan, it gave me an
> error message saying the disk is damaged (it's still enabled for
> read/write). Are there any utilities I could use to test the ROM disk
> integrity?

You can't fit much on the ESP ROM disk.  Perhaps you could verify
your setup by creating a floppy with the same files (making sure
they take no more space that is used on the ESP), getting it to
boot, they formatting the ROM disk and copying the files onto it.

You can always use the Finder's "Check file system" and "Verify disk"
commands to check the contents of the ROM disk.

-- Dave Tribby
   http://www.educate.net.au/~apple2/software/tribby/